


Still Human

by CurrentlyaFamder



Series: Sanders Sides-Mental limitations focus [1]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Autism au, Child Neglect, M/M, No Smut, Virgil can't catch a break
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-22
Updated: 2019-06-03
Packaged: 2019-08-05 23:47:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 7,335
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16377350
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CurrentlyaFamder/pseuds/CurrentlyaFamder
Summary: Virgil just wanted to get away from his home town when he was admitted into collage. He wanted to get a degree, grab that crappy piece of paper and move to England, vanishing off the face of the earth.Roman, however, was hyped to make friends with EVERYONE. His autism was a small block in his learning progress but he'd be damned if he didn't graduate and show his parents he COULD make it alone in the real world. His first objective, however, is to befriend a certain emo... (ON HAITUS)





	1. ~Virgil~

Virgil fiddled nervously with his sleeves. Collage was going to be much more stressful than high school, he could tell just by looking at the massive building he was met with.  
Biting his lip, he walked in to utter chaos.  
He was pretty much instantly lost, moving around aimlessly in an attempt to find any kind of admissions office. Surely to god they had one in Collage as well, right?  
“Oi, newbie!” A voice called. Virgil turned to see a blond girl point back out the door. “Admissions building is at the back of campus.”  
Virgil’s shoulders slumped. It was an entire building?  
The girl smiled slightly, coming over. “It’s not hard to find once you know what it looks like. Come on, I’ll show you where it is.”  
Virgil’s voice stuck to his throat-blasted anxiety-as the girl took his arm and led him back out the doors.  
The admissions office looked more like an admissions castle. Virgil had to say, he was impressed. The blond girl-who told him her name was Lily-stopped at the massive doors. “It’s cool, eh?”  
“I-It’s huge…” Virgil found himself smiling. Lily patted his shoulder. “I’ll see you around, bud. Track me down if you need help again. I’m in dorm E, right over there.”  
Virgil barely paid attention to where she pointed, too busy studying the tapestry on the walls. This collage went a little overboard in their attempts to impress students.  
His phone buzzed, bringing him back to reality. He denied the call and walked in.  
The main office was really nice. He made a mental note to come in here if he needed a breather from people and walked to the person at the desk.  
“U-Um…Hello…?”  
The person looked up, and Virgil’s eyes lit up with recognition. “Emile!”  
“Virgil!” Emile smiled. “I didn’t know you were coming here!”  
“Anything to get away from home. Shit, man, I thought you were dead! Everyone said you crashed your car!”  
“I’m alive, last I checked.”  
Virgil moved around the desk. Emile opened his arms, pulling his younger friend into a hug. “I missed you…” Virgil’s voice cracked, heavy with emotion.  
“I know, kiddo…I’m here now. So, let’s get you registered, hm?”  
Virgil stared at the paper in his hand, smiling softly at the familiar writing with Emile’s phone number under it. So far, today was off to a good start. Maybe Collage wouldn’t be so bad!  
He pulled on his headphones and listened to music as he tried to find the dorm he was in. People pushed past him on all sides. Jeez, this campus was full-  
He was suddenly shoved down, landing hard on his wrist. He hissed in pain and held it.  
“Watch where you’re going, emo,” a deep voice growled. Virgil looked up to see a burly blond-haired guy sneering down at him. Typical.  
Virgil muttered an apology and started to stand, falling when another guy kicked his arm out from under him.  
A large hand grabbed his small bag, pulling it from his back. Virgil’s blood froze. “Hey! What’re you doing?!”  
“Just doing a routine check,” a skinny black-haired guy squeaked. The burly blond ripped the bag open and pulled out Virgil’s computer, handing it to his friend.  
“Give it back!” Virgil jumped up, pained wrist temporarily forgotten. The blond smirked, holding the bag high above him. “What’s the rush, emo? Can’t you see we’re busy?”  
“That’s my stuff!”  
“Hold your horses, MCR,” another guy chipped in. “We’re almost done.”  
“GIVE IT!” Virgil felt embarrassed tears burn at his eyes, jumping up and down to get his bag as the asshole blond held it above his head. The group of boys all laughed, as well as some onlookers. Great, people were watching. And were they doing something? Of course not!  
Virgil’s heart plunged into his stomach when the bully plunged his hand into the bag and pulled out a sketchbook. “Well, well!” He boomed. “I think we found his poems, boys!”  
“No, please, they’re just drawings, give them back!” Virgil jumped for the book, his fingertips barely brushing the cover as it was jerked away. The boy with black hair shoved him to the ground harshly.  
“Shall we read it?” The burly blond sneered.  
“JOHNATHON TAYLER!!!” A female voice yelled. The crown parted to let a certain blond through. Lily!  
The burly blond-Johnathon, apparently-actually paled upon sight of her. He forced a smile. “Y-Yo, Lily!”  
“Don’t ‘yo Lily’ me! What do you think you’re doing?!”  
Johnathon stuttered. Lily stepped up and poked her finger into his chest. “I asked you a question, Tayler. What. Are. You. Doing?”  
Johnathon stepped away from her poke. He snapped at his gang to return Virgil’s belongings to the bag. “I-I was just checking if he had drugs!” he lied, smiling nervously. “Y-You can never be too sure!”  
Lily rolled her eyes. “Yeah, right. And I look stupid, too.”  
Johnathon snorted, shoving Virgil’s bag into Lily’s chest. “Fine. Let the emo get in trouble with Sanders for bringing in illegal drugs. See if I care.”  
Lily flipped her hair at John’s retreating figure, worry crossing her features when she turned to Virgil. “Are you okay?”  
“I’m fine,” Virgil growled, wiping his eyes vigorously. “I should have known better than to expect a good first day.”  
“Hey, no, don’t be like that…” Lily offered her hand to him after giving him his bag. “It’s great here, really. You’ll see.”  
Virgil looked at her hand. After a short pause, he sighed and took it, letting her pull him to his feet. “If I had a dime for every time I heard that…”  
Lily shook her head with a fond smile at his pessimism. “So, you got your dorm letter? Where are you living?”  
Virgil almost had a heart attack. He’d dropped the paper!  
“Um-one moment.” He dropped to his knees, frantically searching for the light pink bit of paper. There it was, just resting on the floor…  
Lily looked confused when he straightened up again, holding the paper. He read the neat type. “Dorm…E.”  
Lily smiled. “You’re with me, that’s great! Come on, I’ll bring you there.”  
Lily grabbed his hand, almost pulling him off his feet as she ran to the dorm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -I most likely won’t ever go into detail about Emile Picani and his stance in this series in later chapters so I’ll do it here-he was Virgil next-door neighbour until grade 7, when he went to work at a collage. They kept in touch via texts and calls since at the time he was the only person Virgil could turn to during times of extreme stress. A month later he got into a car crash and it destroyed his phone (and his hand, which was not fun), and not remembering Virgil’s contact number, he had no way of telling him. Emilie’s parents told Virgil what happened and he never pried for more details, immediately assuming he was dead. It didn’t help that Emile’s parents immediately moved to be closer to their son  
> -Virgil had a pretty rough home life. His parents were nice enough until the divorce, when his dad ran off with a 19-year-old girl and his mother started drinking. As a result, Virgil was pretty much neglected, luckily it was around the time he knew how to drive and could steal her credit card to get food and such  
> -High school was Hell. I will be getting into detail about this but if not this will be touched on in chapter 5’s notes  
> -And the total word count for chapter 1 was…None of your business (1040 actually)


	2. ~Roman~

Roman bounced up and down excitedly, twisting his hands together. Today was the day he started a new school!  
He tried his hardest to not flap his hands to vent excitement. His mom didn’t like when he did that. Instead he pulled a beat-up blue stuffy from his bag and hugged it to him.  
“Remember, Roman, it’s going to be a whole new ball game,” his mom warned from the wheel of the car. Her son just grinned brightly in response.  
Karen sighed slightly, pitying herself. Why was her son born with Autism? Don’t get her wrong-she loved him very much…But every so often she imagined how her life would be like if she had a normal kid. A kid that didn’t cry at the drop of a hat, didn’t refuse to wear anything that wasn’t either a very soft hoodie or his prince costume from almost 5 Halloweens ago, a kid that was more like her.  
The collage coming into view pulled her from her thoughts. She pulled into the parking lot and helped her son out of the car.  
“Have a good first day, Romi. I’ll pick you up when classes are over.”  
Roman bounced off happily, not seeming to notice the fact that his mom had neglected to say ‘I love you’.  
Roman followed a map to the admissions building. It looked more like a castle to him!  
He hummed to himself as he entered, stopping to find he was suddenly almost in the middle of nowhere. This building was so big-where was the office?!  
The old not-quite-panic feeling squeezed his chest, and he hugged Stitch tighter to him in an attempt to calm down. People milled past him and they suddenly seemed to come by the thousands-  
“Are you okay?”  
He snapped his head up at the sound of the voice. A person with dyed teal hair was looking at him with concern.  
He dropped Stitch and put his hands to his head. Too much too MUCH!  
“What’s going on?” Dr. Picani came out of his office to see the commotion. “Talyn? What happened?”  
“I-I don’t know,” the young non-binary student stammered. “I saw he was having trouble and came to help, but-“  
Picani moved past them, walking to the male that was flapping his hands to beat the band. “Hey, kiddo, it’s okay…Can you look at me?”  
“D-Don’t touch me!” Roman sobbed. Picani backed up a little. “I’m not going to touch you. I’m here to help you, see?”  
Roman shook his head, hugging himself. Picani noticed a well-loved stuffy lying on the floor. He slowly knelt to pick it up and hold it out to the Autistic boy. “Is this yours?”  
Roman snatched Stich back so fast the ear was ripped almost off. He hugged him to him again and fell to his knees. Picani gave Talyn a comforting smile. “Go to class, Talyn. I’ll handle it from here. Thank you for trying to help.”  
Talyn bowed slightly, leaving to their next class a little perplexed. They’d never seen someone act like that…Maybe it was just high anxiety?  
They vowed to befriend the boy if he was in any of their classes. God knows the kid seems to really need a friend.  
Roman was back to his bouncy self a few moments later, albeit a little embarrassed. His mom always told him he made a fool of himself in public sometimes…This was one of those times.  
The man with him-Dr. Picani, he said to call him-didn’t seem to mind how he’d acted in the hall. If anything he acted like it didn’t happen, which Roman was kind of grateful for. Maybe if he forgot about the ordeal he could have a good first day after all!  
“No dorm?” Dr. Picani’s voice cut into his thoughts. He nodded vigorously. “Mom lives an hour away from here, so I’m staying with her.”  
Dr. Picani nodded, then grabbed a pen from his cup and scribbled something onto Roman’s class list. “Here’s someone you can call if you need help.”  
“Thank you!”  
“And Roman…” Roman met his eyes briefly at the sound of his name. “It’s okay to ask for help if you feel overwhelmed.”  
Roman hunched his shoulders in embarrassment. He hadn’t forgotten.  
He nodded slightly, stuffing his class list and Stich in his bag before taking off to today’s class.

Virgil rested at the steps of his next class, glad for the few moments of peace. After Lily’s excited tour of the dorms he needed a break from optimism, from being dragged everywhere and meeting random people.  
He put on his music and pulled out his sketchbook, continuing his sketch of a black Kitsune that he’d started on the bus.  
He could get lost in this world for hours, just him and his drawings and music. People passing by didn’t bother him, even if they nudged him aside to make room for their big egos.  
So it surprised him how he noticed the shock of auburn hair appear behind his sketchbook.  
He lowered the book and was met with a man about his age, staring at him intently with big brown eyes. The man smiled when he realized Virgil had noticed him. “Hello! What’re you drawing? Can I see?”  
“No.” Virgil put his book back up and curled up tighter, blocking out the world again. The red-haired man just moved beside him. Virgil covered his work and hissed at him without thinking.  
The redhead giggled. “You’re like a kitty!”  
Virgil raised his eyebrow. Was he stupid? He sounded too cheery for someone in his 20’s.  
Redhead just stared back at him. Virgil noticed his eyes sometimes darted around. No eye contact, hm.  
He started packing up his stuff when Redhead started talking again. “Do you have a class in here?”  
“Yes.”  
“What is it?”  
“Art.”  
“Me too!” Redhead beamed, not realizing by Virgil’s blunt answers he wanted him to piss of and die. “We can be friends!”  
The sentence made Virgil laugh. “Friends?! I barely know you, why the Hell would I want to be friends with you?”  
A look of hurt flashed across Redhead’s face, making Virgil feel a little guilty. Whatever. He’d already established himself as a prick, might as well finish the job.  
He stood up and threw his bag on his back. “And for the record, I do not sound like a kitty. That’s just stupid.”  
He left Roman sitting on the stairs, watching after the purple-haired man walk into the building with his head down. Roman sighed slightly. Rough first start.  
He turned and noticed a paper that must have fallen out of his big black book. Picking it up, it was an incredibly detailed picture of a black cat with raven wings. The signature was a simple capital V.  
Roman smirked, looking back at the entrance the grouchy boy had stormed off into. He had a start to his name and a reason to talk with him again.  
He’d make friends with him if it’s the last thing he does!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \- Logan and Patton won’t be the main focus, but they will show up. Spoiler alert: they’re married  
> -I may expand on Roman’s home life more. Again, if it’s not done by chapter 5 it’ll be in it’s corresponding notes  
> -Yes, Talyn and Joan are in this. Actually almost everyone is: Talyn, Joan, Terrance, Valerie, Thomas, Remy, Deceit…  
> -Detailed notes on Tumblr


	3. ~Art Class~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for a late chapter! I keep forgetting to move these things over onto this platform, so it's way behind. ^^;

Virgil doodled lazily in his book as the professor introduced herself, going on about ‘passion’ and ‘vision’ in art. Quite frankly Virgil thought she was absolutely crazy-  
“Excuse me?”  
He jolted, looking up. He groaned when he made eye contact with the redhead from before. “I already told you, I don’t want to be friends, please leave me alone-“  
Redhead looked away, shoving a piece of paper towards him. Virgil took it curiously, then his breath caught.  
The picture of Sherlock he’d drawn for an online friend had fallen out of his sketchbook.  
He grabbed it and stuffed it in, turning red from embarrassment. “Th-Thank you.”  
“It’s pretty!”  
“It’s not pretty!” Virgil snapped, calling unwanted attention to himself. He hunched his shoulders and wished the floor would swallow him right now.  
Redhead tilted his head to the side. “Is your name V-“  
“EXCUSE ME, boys!” The professor snapped. “In case you haven’t noticed, class has started! PLEASE sit down and shut up!”  
‘Don’t sit next to me, don’t sit next to me…’ Virgil prayed in vain. Redhead stumbled onto the seat next to him.  
Virgil groaned and hid his face in his sketchbook. This was going to be a great class.

Roman bounced out of class happily. Art class was the best thing ever!  
Except when he was yelled at. That was not fun.  
He glanced over his shoulder, watching V come down the stairs. He stopped to wait for him.  
V sighed when he noticed him, pulling his hood up to cover his eyes. Roman hid a smile. He was so much like a kitty!  
“Did you like it?” He started walking again when V was beside him. V just mumbled something he didn’t catch.  
“Come again?”  
“I said it was like being stuck in a traffic jam with everyone breathing down your neck,” V clarified. “I can’t stand her, why is she so loud? Why does she talk like the only thing that matters in art is ‘passion’?”  
Roman listened to V rant, smiling to himself as he realized he had evidently broken the barrier between them. “I’m sure tomorrow will be better!” He chirped when V stopped to catch his breath.  
“You would, wouldn’t you,” V growled. “You’re one of those people that see the bright side to everything, even when there isn’t one.”  
“That’s not true!”  
V scoffed. “Name one thing that doesn’t have a bright side.”  
“A black hole!” Roman shuddered slightly. “They’re scary. If you fall in one you’ll keep falling, forever. Or it pulls you apart from the gravitational pull. Either way you never see your family again.”  
V went silent. “Okay…What about dogs?”  
“Some doggies are hit until they’re mean, but it’s not their fault. My dad rescues Pitbulls no one else wants because they say the doggies are vicious, but they aren’t! The humans are vicious.”  
“Cats?”  
“Cats are mean,” Roman said bluntly. V covered his mouth to hide a smile. “They are! They scratch me when I just wanna snuggle them.”  
“That’s probably because you come too fast. Cats can be snuggly, but only when they want to be.”  
“Do you have a kitty?”  
V slowed down slightly. Roman stopped to wait for him.  
“Um…I-I should get going, I gotta set up my dorm.”  
“Can I come?”  
V hesitated, then sighed. “I’ll never get a moment to myself, will I. Fine, you can come…”  
“Yay!”

V's dorm was pretty unremarkable. Roman didn’t see what all the fuss was about, personally he thought his own room at home was more exciting.  
V flopped down on the bed, pulling out the black book again. Roman noticed the other bed didn’t have covers on it. “No roommate?”  
“Nope,” V answered simply.  
Roman sat on the other be, then lay in it. It was comfy!  
He watched V draw for a bit, then sat up again. He pulled the sleeves of his Stich hoodie over his hands to make sweater paws and flapped them, entertained briefly before flopping back. Collage was boring now.  
A snort from V made him look up. He looked up and met V’s eyes for a second before the latter quickly returned to his drawing. Roman got off the bed and walked over, trying to see what he was drawing.  
Someone suddenly pounded on V’s door, startling both men. “Virgil! Open up!”  
V sighed, dropping his forehead onto his sketchbook. He muttered something Roman didn’t catch and stood, walking to the door.  
A blond girl yanked him into the hallway almost as soon as the door was opened, talking a mile a minute. Roman figured V would be distracted for a while and took the time to look through his sketchbook.  
The first page was just a sort of cover page, blocky letters reading ‘Virgil’s musings and sketches and shit’ with normal printed ones reading ‘Touch this without permission and I’ll hurt you’. A drawing of a storm cloud and lightning bolt sat in the middle. So far, it was a little threatening, but it was interesting!  
Thumbing through the book showed that Virgil mused and sketched a LOT. There were songs, short stories, story ideas, vents scribbled out, notes on sketches-and the sketches themselves were incredible. Virgil seemed to doodle the raven-winged kitty an awful lot, either a full sketch or just a doodle.  
One drawing Roman came across worried him. It was a drawing of a women drinking wine, but there was a crack across the page like broken glass. Shaky writing read ‘I DON’T WANT TO BE AFRAID ANYMORE’.  
Roman closed the book slowly, realizing he’d seen something very personal. What had Virgil gone through before coming to collage?

“Lily, stop spinning please, I’m gonna vomit-“  
Lily giggled, letting go of her friend. Virgil stumbled against the wall and struggled to fix his hoodie. “Wh-What’s gotten you so excited?”  
“There’s a frat party in dorm A tonight!!! You’ve gotta come, Virgie, it’ll be the best thing ever!!”  
Virgil winced. The one thing he’d hoped to avoid in collage were frat parties. Or any parties, really. He’d hoped to just go through collage as a dark little outcast, hiding in the shadows until graduation and vanishing off the face of the earth.  
But by the look on Lily’s face, she wasn’t about to let that happen.  
“I-I don’t know-I have a lot of work-and a class in-15 minutes-“  
“Aw c’mon, don’t be such a dork!” Lily playfully punched his shoulder, not hard enough to hurt him. “It’ll be fun! Who knows, maybe you’ll even be able to break out from your shell!”  
He was perfectly happy in his shell, thank you very much, he’d spent 5 years perfecting it. “Wh-What if there’s booze-“  
Lily sighed. “You don’t need to drink, Virgie, just come! I’ll come pick you up at 3, ‘kay?”  
Lily had flounced off before Virgil could tear her a new one, leaving him in the hallway with a sinking feeling and an event he never wanted to attend.  
He shoved his way back into his room, making Roman drop the book he was reading. He pulled his hood up and returned to his bed.  
“V?” Roman asked. Virgil heaved a sigh. “What is it.”  
“Are you…Okay?”  
“Just peachy.” He’d say anything to get Roman out of his room. There was a panic attack coming that he really needed to ride out before English started in less that-what-14 minutes now, and he wasn’t going to get anywhere by talking to someone he never wanted in his room in the first place he got a single dorm so he could be ALONE-  
Roman rummaging through his bag yanked Virgil out of his thoughts. The redhead pulled out a worn, tattered Stich stuffed animal and held it out to him. “Take him.”  
Virgil glared hard at the animal, almost expecting it to burst into flames. Roman pressed the ugly thing into his chest and moved his arms to hug it.  
It was…Nice. Virgil couldn’t remember the last time someone had offered to hug him, even a stuffed animal. All his old toys he’d sold for food money. And his parents? Forget it. Even his mother wouldn’t look at him unless it was to reprimand him about grades or drunkenly yell at him about how he’d somehow caused the divorce.  
He felt his eyes burn and buried his face in the dirty, worn fur, breathing in the scent of repeated washing and something he couldn’t place.  
Not until he felt a person pull him against them and the smell got stronger. Oh. It’s what Roman smells like.  
Roman gently picked him up, moving somewhere Virgil didn’t bother looking up for. He curled up tighter and allowed his dam to break.  
Roman rubbed Virgil’s back in gentle motions, something his dad did when Roman was sad. Virgil clung to Stich like his life depended on it and Roman felt his own throat close up. He shook his head and forced his own emotions away. Now wasn’t the time to be a fool!  
Virgil’s pained sniffs soon faded. Checking on him showed he’d fallen asleep, black lines running down his face.  
Roman stood slowly, bringing him to bed. He gently took Stich from Virgil’s arms and gave him a spare pillow to snuggle instead.  
He stayed back for a little while, putting Virgil’s sketchbook back into his bag and stashing it under his bed so no one would steal it, before checking the paper thing Dr. Picani had given him and gulping. He was 5 minutes late for Drama!  
Roman threw his bag onto his back, cast one more worried look at Virgil and ran out, slowly closing his door so no one would bug him.


	4. ~End of Virgil's Normal Life~

Virgil’s eyes hurt.  
He groaned, forcing them open and blinking away the bleariness. How long he’d been asleep, he didn’t know. He barely remembered what happened-  
Oh. Yeah. Party tonight. And bad memories.  
And Roman.  
Virgil rubbed his eyes, groaning again. Fucking Roman, having to witness his composure fall apart and betray him. He probably felt bad for him now.  
If there was a list of things Virgil hated, the topper was pity.  
Virgil smirked at the list idea. Maybe it’d be a good idea to make one. You know, just for fun.  
He reached over the side of the bed, his heart almost stopping when he was met with air. His bag-where was his bag?!  
Did…Roman take it?  
Virgil fell against the bed again, putting his arms over his eyes. Of course. This is how he’s rewarded for showing weakness. Roman steals his fucking bag.  
He pushed himself off the bed, flinching when his foot hit something. Peeking out from under his bed was a familiar black band. Oh no, he just stuffed it under the bed!  
Virgil felt a little lighter, knowing Roman didn’t betray his trust. The light feeling lasted until the spotted the pillow he was sleeping on and the one he was snuggling.  
Smeared with eyeshadow. Oh, great. Virgil’s face must be a mess, then.  
He grabbed his phone and flipped the camera to the front. Ugly smudged black lines ran down from his eyes, taking some foundation with it.  
Virgil growled and swiped at his face angrily, smearing more makeup all over his sleeve. So far he’s made an enemy, had his personal bubble disturbed and broken down in front of a stranger-all in one day!  
Great start, Virgil.  
He took off the rest of his makeup and checked the time. He’d already missed his English class and most of Science, so there was no point in going out again.  
A text caught his eye when he closed his phone’s camera. An unknown number, the text simply saying “I’m hoping this is Virgil. Roman tells me you skipped English for a personal reason. Please meet me at *address* at 6:30.”  
His English teacher used proper grammar in texts? Virgil shook his head with a chuckle. What a geek.  
It was 4:45 at the moment (Jesus, he’d been asleep for 3 hours!), so he had a little while until he had to see his English teacher.  
Virgil locked his dorm room door, put on his headphones, and blared music as he returned to drawing. He found himself smiling as he was finally left alone to doodle in peace.  
Thank god for door locks and loud music.

Virgil had to will himself up the stairs of the light blue house where his English teacher apparently lived. He started having second thoughts as soon as the taxi he’d taken had pulled up, but if they were given work, he needed to stay caught up…  
He rang the doorbell, jolting when a bird squawked in response to it and a dog started barking. Jeez, it sounds like he set off world war 3 in there…  
“That’s enough, Watson, thank you,” a voice spoke over the dog. The door opened and Virgil was almost knocked over by a thin, pure white dog as it blew out the door. Virgil watched after the dog before turning to the man who answered the door.  
He instantly felt a little intimidated. The man was taller than him (though, admittedly, that’s not a hard feat) and was giving him a suspicious glare. Virgil gulped and forced his voice past his squeezing throat. “I’m…Virgil…”  
The glare went away instantly. His English professor fixed his tie against his black shirt. “Ah…Forgive me. Come inside.”  
Virgil cast another look at the white dog, then followed the professor inside. The bird he’d heard squawk came into view-an African grey parrot, and an impressive one at that. It rested on a free wooden perch with newspaper on the floor to catch whatever it dropped. Unsurprisingly, there were bird toys all over the house so the parrot could entertain itself.  
“Over here.” The professor motioned to the small living room. Virgil followed him in.  
The first thing he noticed was that the TV was on and playing kids shows. The second was the man sitting on the couch and watching them. The English professor walked over and tapped the man on the shoulder. “Patton, I have someone here. Just so I don’t startle you.”  
“Can I see them?” The other man-Patton-spoke suddenly. The professor nodded and Patton jumped up, catching sight of Virgil.  
Virgil stepped back slightly, offering a shy wave. Patton broke into a huge grin. “Hello! Oh Logi, he’s adorable-“  
“Patton, remember what I said about calling people that out loud,” Virgil’s professor said, softly yet sternly. “You don’t know how he’ll feel about it.”  
Patton looked back. “Can I hug him?”  
“You’ll have to ask his permission,” the professor said at the same time Virgil said “I’d rather you didn’t.” Patton turned disheartened eyes to the professor, who sighed and pulled him into a hug.  
Virgil noticed the glint of something shiny on the two men’s hands. He smiled a little at the sight. Married…  
The professor kissed the top of Patton’s head, getting a happy grin in response. “I have to work with Virgil here. Do you mind moving to the bedroom?”  
“Nope!” Patton bounced happily, pulling out of the professor’s arms and running down a hallway. The professor watched him go with a soft smile.  
He turned to Virgil again, who hid his own smile. “So. The work you missed. Let’s get you caught up.”  
Virgil wound up missing the frat party, spending hours with his English professor-Logan Ester, he learned his name was. What started as a catching-up-with-work-and-fuck-off-again night turned into a play-with-Watson-the-dog-and-Sherlock-the-parrot-while-learning-about-Autism-night.  
Seriously, Logan told him about Autism.  
Apparently Patton had it, as well as Roman. Logan instantly put to rest any thoughts Virgil had about Autistic people being stupid. They may not understand some things, they may miss a lot of social cues, and many may be prone to meltdowns, but they’re still humans with emotions.  
“I’ve had people give me dirty looks when Patton announces he’s my husband,” he told him at one time. “They think people with Autism don’t understand love and can’t consent to anything. They don’t seem to understand that they can feel love-Patton proposed to me, not the other way around.”  
Virgil went home with a bit of homework and a lot to think about. He recalled the jerkass way he’d treated Roman before and decided to make it up to him somehow.  
He returned to the dorm to a furious Lily. “What the fuck, V?!” She yelled. “You were supposed to come to the party tonight!”  
“I had better things to do,” Virgil mumbled, shoving past her in the doorway. “And don’t call me V.”  
“What could be more important than meeting new possible friends!?”  
Virgil turned back and glared at her. “Homework.”  
With that, he slammed the door to his dorm room.  
His phone buzzed with a text later that night, as he was getting ready to sleep. It was from Lily. Go figure.  
You: what  
Blond Bitch: V, I’m sorry  
Blond Bitch: I just realized how I sounded. I shouldn’t have pressured you into coming to the party  
Blond Bitch: I just don’t want you to be unpopular, you know?  
You: no  
Blond Bitch: think of it this way-the more friends you have, the less likely it is that John will go after you  
You: maybe i want to be upopular  
You: *unpopular  
Blond Bitch: V, please…At least show up to the next one?  
Blond Bitch: all my friends wanna meet you  
Blond Bitch: and maybe theres other people out there like you  
Blond Bitch: *there’s  
You: emos, you mean  
Blond Bitch: did I say emos?  
You: can i sleep please  
Blond Bitch: promise me that you’ll come to the next party.  
Blond Bitch: else I’ll keep spamming you  
Blond Bitch: V?  
Blond Bitch: V  
Blond Bitch: V  
Blond Bitch: Virgil  
You: fine  
Blond Bitch: Yay!  
Blond Bitch: okay, I’ll let you sleep now  
Blond Bitch: good night, V


	5. ~Prince Stitch~

Roman found himself almost dreading today’s classes. Why? What was going to be bad? It was just Art again and then he was free to explore the campus!  
He secretly hoped he’d run into Virgil again. He’d been thinking about him an awful lot lately-the odd growl he had when he spoke, the way he hissed like a kitty, how soft his hoodie was, how he’d curled up in Roman easily for a hug-he was adorable!  
Was this a crush? Roman’s had crushes before, but they didn’t last. Maybe this one won’t either.  
Virgil was on the stairs of the art building again, drawing in his black book. Roman bounced up next to him. “Hello!”  
Virgil jolted, slamming the book closed. He relaxed when he noticed it was just Roman. “H-Hey, Ro…You scared me.”  
“Aw, I’m sorry! Whatcha drawing?”  
“None of your business,” Virgil snapped, then seemed to catch himself. “I mean…I don’t show people my drawings unless it’s for them.”  
“Oh.” Roman played with his sleeves briefly. “Is it for me?”  
“Actually, I do have one for you.” Virgil flipped back a few pages, wiped one off, and showed it to Roman. Virgil had drawn the tattered Stich Roman always carried around.  
Roman squealed, throwing his arms around his friend. “I LOVE IT OH MY GOSH THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!”  
“Ack-okay-can’t breathe-“  
“Oh! Sorry!” Roman released him quickly, watching him fix his hoodie in an embarrassed way. “Can I keep it?”  
“N-Not yet. I was going to get it framed or something and give it to you then…”  
Roman grinned and bounced up and down, struggling to refrain from hugging him again. “Thank you so much!”

Virgil sat back in his chair, half listening to the professor go on about god-knows-what. He caught Roman’s eye and made a ‘blah blah blah’ motion with his hand. Roman covered his mouth with his hand to hide giggles.  
Virgil smiled slightly. He was glad he decided to cut Roman a little slack and try again, he was actually kind of fun to hang out with.  
The professor loudly cleared her throat in her ‘listen to me now’ way. Virgil finally tuned in.  
“Since none of you have completed the simple sketch I gave you to do,” she growled, “You now have that AND the blue forest!”  
Virgil groaned, along with a lot of other kids. He’d forgotten all about the fucking dog sketch he had to do for initiation. And he’d spent almost all night with the perfect model!  
Ah well. Maybe he can just pull a picture from online…  
Roman’s tapping on his arm pulled him from his thoughts. “Do you have blue paint?” He asked. “My mom doesn’t have anything artsy in our house…”  
Virgil bit his lip. “No, but…I have markers. You can use them, just don’t dry them out.”  
Roman grinned. “I won’t! So we’re in your dorm after class then?”  
Virgil hesitated. That did sound like an invitation. “I…Sure, I guess.”  
Roman cheered, silencing himself at the glare the teacher gave him. Virgil shook his head slightly with a chuckle.  
He was surprisingly hyped for class to end now.

Blond Bitch: this class is so boring  
Blond Bitch: are you in class right now?  
Blond Bitch: V?  
Blond Bitch: hey, skip out, I’m bored and wanna see you  
You: not in class  
Blond Bitch: Where are you?  
You: cant talk repairing stuffed animal  
Blond Bitch: ???  
Virgil put down his phone, careful not to jostle the stuffed Stich’s ear and pull the new stiches loose. He pulled the pin from the stuffed animal’s ratty tail and pushed it through the synthetic skin.  
Virgil and Roman were doing their own thing, Roman drawing the assigned blue forest on the floor and Virgil repairing his 21-year-old Stitch stuffed animal. He had his feet up on the desk and the toy’s ear in his mouth. His phone played soft music on a loop (Roman didn’t like anything heavy metal), bringing a sense of ambience into the room.  
Roman sometimes would look up at Virgil, giving him a bright smile when he glanced in his direction. He’d asked Virgil to fix him the second he saw a sewing kit in Virgil’s desk drawer-and since he needed to brush up on his skills anyway, he agreed to it.  
He found himself enjoying Roman’s presence, like a comforting feeling in the back of his mind. The friend he had before coming to collage never made him feel like this-none of his friends had, actually. What was different about Roman?  
He turned the stuffy over, noticing a hole where stuffing was falling out. He stretched his sore fingers and pulled on the needle for more thread.  
“Need a break?”  
Virgil heard Roman walk over to him. He tilted his head back to look at him. “No, just sore hands. I’ve gotta be precise, these rips are bad. Do you?”  
“My hands are cramping up,” Roman pouted, clawing a hand for emphasis. Virgil laughed slightly and set down Stitch. “Well, we have been at this for an hour. Maybe we could…I don’t know-explore campus or something. I haven’t had the real chance to yet.”  
Roman’s eyes lit up like a Christmas tree. “Yes! Please!”  
Virgil laughed slightly. “Get the stuff off the floor and we’ll go. I don’t know how strict people are about cleanliness around here and I don’t care to find out.”  
Roman later lay in bed on his back, playing with his repaired friend Stitch and admiring the prince costume Virgil had made for him. Roman had told him what he most wanted to be when they were in a fabric store and Virgil had responded by grabbing every white, blue and gold piece of fabric and thread he could find.  
The end result almost put Roman’s own prince costume to shame. A handsome blue sash went across Stich’s chest, sewn into the back so it didn’t slip off. Gold thread connected little sleeves to the chest piece and showed off a gold-and-blue emblem on his chest, above where his heart would be.  
Roman had almost cried. A gift from his new friend-it looked so pretty! And Stich was so much stronger now!  
Roman hugged Stich to his chest, rocking slightly. He fell asleep thinking of ways to than Virgil.


	6. ~Party Time~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ack okay so I lowkey forgot this tory existED HERE AS WELL SO IT GOT ABANDONED ACK  
> Anyway. New chapter. Finally here. I wrote this back in October, so I apologize for the unseasonal Halloween vibe.

Virgil hated this. Hated that he’d promised Lily he’d go to the next party and meet strange people.  
He now stood in front of a house all decorated for Halloween, wearing a werewolf hoodie and feeling utterly ridiculous and out of place standing with Lily and her friends.  
He hugged himself, shivering from the cold as Lily talked. She’d been ignoring him since her friends got in the car, something she clearly didn’t intend to do but was doing it anyway. It was remarkably cold for a fall night; how can she stand there dressed as Hermine and not be at least a little cold?  
Virgil determined all women must have central heaters.  
As she continued to talk to her friends, an idea came to mind. Maybe he could sneak off? Maybe he could fade into the background, be forgotten, tell her later that he felt sick and went to go home-  
Lily grabbed his arm as soon as she noticed him backing away. “Oh no you don’t! You promised!”  
Virgil bit his lip, letting himself be pulled back beside her. Lily and her friends swept him inside the large dorm.  
The dorm was even more festive, the walls lined with orange jack-o-lanterns and black bat stencils. Several intricately carved jack-o-lanterns were used as lights, giving several rooms an orange glow, and candles gave the dining room and other rooms a more romantic-but-spooky feel. Seeing these made Virgil feel a little more at ease.  
Or they would, if the crowd of people didn’t make him automatically drift to the back of the room.  
Lily had none of this, dragging him out to the middle of the crowd. “Valerie! Hey! Hang on!”  
A girl with brown hair turned around at the sound of her name, giving Lily a slight smile when she ran over. “Hey, Lil. Who’s your friend?”  
“Virgil! Virgil, this is Valerie.”  
Virgil quite frankly couldn’t care less. He forced a weak smile for Valerie, anyway. The girl smiled in return. “Hello, Virgil.”  
“U-Um…Hi…” Virgil pulled the hood of his hoodie up, hating eye contact. Valerie let out an ‘aww’. “Shy, are we?”  
“He hates being social.” Lily ignored the venomous glare Virgil shot her. Way to put his secrets on the streets, bitch.  
He decided being alone would be better than listening to Lily throw other personal info on the streets, so he headed to the kitchen.  
He needed a drink.  
A familiar shape kept him from making himself noticed, stealing a bottle from the fridge and retreating to the back porch with it. The cool night air was a welcome relief from the stuffy inside, and he decided maybe the party wouldn’t be so bad after all.  
He drank a bit of beer, cringing at the disgusting taste. He wasn’t a drinker.  
He was taking another drink when the sliding door opened, startling him into inhaling some. “Oh shoot! Are you okay?!”  
Someone’s hand started rubbing his back until he stopped coughing. “I-I’m fine…Thank you…”  
“Anytime.”  
The person came into view when they sat down beside him, wearing a black hoodie partially wrapped in yellow reflective tape. The hood had hand-made antennae-like things with yellow bands sewn on as well as red cat-eyes. He smiled slightly when he made eye contact with the person. “Umbreon, hm.”  
The person blushed slightly. “Yeah…I’m a bit of a Dark-Type person. How about you?”  
“I’m not a Pokémon player, really.”  
“…Oh.” The other person looked away. “Well, I just made things awkward.”  
“What’s your name?”  
The Umbreon person looked up again. “Mine? It’s Talyn. You?”  
Virgil smiled slightly, finding no harm in telling this relative stranger his name anymore. “Virgil. Virgil Goth.”  
“Fitting.”  
“Har har.” He hid a real laugh, earning a smile from Talyn. They pulled their hood back to reveal long-ish hair dyed black and glasses. “I heard that!”  
“You heard nothing.”  
The two eventually made a break from the party, Virgil texting Lily that he’d forgotten something and was heading home to get it. He wasn’t sure if it was the drinks or what but he found himself feeling more outgoing around Talyn.  
Talyn was somehow laid-back and hyper at the same time, going on about subjects that made them happy and encouraging Virgil to talk about himself. It turns out they also had art with the crazy female professor and thought about as highly of her as Virgil did, knew Roman from a drama class, hoped to major in science and was intrigued by professor Ester. They had him as a science professor and said he always went off on tangents until someone (usually their friend Joan) reminded him that they were getting off track. The two agreed that it was too cold for Lily’s Hermine costume (which Talyn had seen when they’d come in) and that it’d be more fun to hide in Virgil’s dorm until curfew forced Talyn to head to their own dorm.  
Virgil was a little shy about having yet another stranger in his dorm, especially since he’d since decorated it both for Halloween and to closer suit his interests. Nevertheless, it would be warmer (and safer) than walking the streets, and more fun than hanging out in a cramped house.  
He still had vivid visions of Talyn poking fun of him due to his room’s décor as he led them up the stairs to where his room was. He took a deep breath and pushed the door open. “Well…Here we are.”  
Talyn’s eyes lit up as they entered. Virgil braced himself for the onslaught of insults.  
“This is amazing!!” Talyn cheered, startling Virgil. “Did you draw the posters?!”  
“Ah…Some of them. The rest are actual posters.”  
“Oh my gosh this is awesome!” Talyn turned to their friend, eyes lit up. “Can you draw some for me?”  
Virgil pulled his hoodie into paws. “I…Sure?”

When the curfew bell rang hours later, Talyn and Virgil had made 3 Tim Burton-inspired posters for their room. After the two discovered their mutual like of gothic things Virgil’s shell was truly smashed-for the first time willingly in years.  
He found himself smiling after they left. Collage truly was different than high school.


	7. A/N

Hey guys, apologies for slow updates. I have another chapter for this and LB in the works, but with creativity shot to hell, work schedule changes and now a strained wrist the stories have bitten the dust more or less. I'll get started on them again when my wrist heals.


End file.
